


Scope

by raven_aorla



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Age of Ultron spoilers, F/M, Gen, Jarvis Feels, summary sounds more philosophical than deserved
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-31
Updated: 2015-05-31
Packaged: 2018-04-02 03:23:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4044010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raven_aorla/pseuds/raven_aorla
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rhodey wants to know, for Tony's sake, how to feel about Vision. </p><p>Wanda wants to know, for Vision's sake, how to feel about Tony.</p><p>A conversation about what people make, and the unexpected consequences.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Scope

A (male) voice greets them with (friendliness) (wariness) (embarrassment). "Is this a bad time?"

 _Rhodes assumes we're in a sexual relationship,_ Wanda informs Vision. 

She pries into the thoughts and memories of their teammates very little, despite what must be massive temptation, yet she invariably passes on to Vision anything the others are thinking about him. He has spent hours analyzing this habit of hers and has concluded that he finds it somewhere between baffling and flattering. 

Vision doesn't move in external space, but in the imaginary hedge maze where they've been walking hand-in-hand he smiles shyly at her. Imaginary-him gestures at the tall shrubbery, the lush grass, the azure sky, the cloud that she said looks like a hamster when it was meant to look like a lion. (She comforted him by pointing out how unsystematic and abstract the human imagination is, and wasn't emulating that the goal of this activity?) 

_Feel free to describe all this and other things we do together in whatever terms you wish,_ he declares. He doesn't want to be rude, and they are after all in a common area where they might reasonably expect interruption. That doesn't mean he wants to 'cramp Wanda's style', so to speak. And while guilt is a functional and sometimes appropriate emotion, shame is something Vision has dismissed as a largely maladaptive social construct. 

Wanda dreams them a door that says RETURN TO REALITY with an accompanying drawing of a frowning cartoon face, and they step back to full awareness of their surroundings.

"No, Rhodey, it's a perfectly adequate time," Vision replies, within a socially acceptable pause duration. The three of them are in one of the shared recreational spaces here at the new Avengers base. This one has no television or other electronic entertainment devices, but does contain comfortable seating, a window with a pleasant view, low tables, and a variety of board and card games. 

(Steve and Vision are banned from competing in games of Trivial Pursuit for the exact opposite reasons. Instead, Steve sits in to take notes and Vision is the arbiter of disputes over the accuracy of answer cards.) 

Vision is sitting in a relaxed upright position at the end of one of the couches, dressed in the casual (and capeless) version of his training/mission attire. Wanda is lying on that same sofa with her head resting in his lap. She's wearing clothes she likes, which showcases the person she is and thus makes her beauty particularly apparent today. He was running fascinated fingers through her soft hair when they began. Evidently he hasn't stopped. His other hand is clasping one of hers. He is amenable to both tasks continuing.

"We were exploring inner spaces, but if you don't mind me staying feel free to ask him what you wish. I am too, at present, comfortable to move." With her free hand, Wanda waves lazily like she's granting the others a favor. (It took almost four months after losing her brother before Wanda initiated jokes or teasing, and every time she shows yet another sign of recovery he feels like his synapses are lighting up.)

 

"Feel free to take a seat. That easy chair is Sam's favorite, if you're still continuing your mild rivalry in claiming each other's preferred seats before the other shows up."

 

This accomplishes Vision's goal: Rhodey chuckles and takes a seat, far less tense. "I shouldn't be surprised you noticed that."

"I already know the question you want to ask him. I didn't go looking - you shout it, you've shouted it every time you've seen him for months and months now. Please ask him. Even though I lack the doubt you have behind it, I wonder the answer too. About. I wonder about the answer too."

 

Wanda stares at the ceiling. Making minor errors in English irks her, despite Vision pointing out the admirable level of fluency she shows in her non-native language despite her lack of formal education. Rhodey stares at Wanda, posture tense all over again. Vision stares at Rhodey, contemplating yet again how odd it is in some ways that the rest of the team finds Vision more approachable than Wanda when she is the same species as they. 

Vision has no physical need to clear his throat, but it seems an effective way of inserting a sort of auditory punctuation into the conversation. "If you're concerned about offending me, you've thoroughly demonstrated your acceptance of my membership in the team and the value of my contributions. I am capable of taking offense, but I don't seem to be human enough to take offense for no good reason."

Rhodey smiles, but Wanda laughs. Her laughs at his witticisms are often disproportionate to their humorousness, but that doesn't take away from the synapse-brightening. Also, her laugh probably also reduces Rhodey's concern over her being offended. She's remarkably protective of Vision's feelings.

 

"All right. I've been trying to figure out a good way to word it, but I don't think there's ever going to be a perfect way. I know you've got grievances against Tony, Wanda, and I wouldn't ever dream of dismissing that. I've got nothing but respect for how you're not letting that define you or your actions." 

 

 _Anymore,_ > Wanda thinks. Possibly without meaning to, she sends Vision a bundle of memories beginning with ten-year-old Pietro telling her that they'd make Stark pay, and ending with the moment she felt her brother die in the war their vengeance helped create. 

_But you helped make me, too. Without you, Helen wouldn't have had the materials to make my body. You can't trace everything that happens to a single person or thing. You learn what you can and live on with that knowledge._

Rhodey continues, "I've been his friend longer than anyone else. I knew him when JARVIS - the program, not the guy he named the program after - was just blueprints. I know you're not JARVIS, Vision, there are enough things to prove it beyond the whole having-a-body. You're incredibly obviously not Ultron. I think Tony wants to know this too, but it still hurts too much for him to talk to you, no matter how proud he is that he had a hand in you coming into the world. I'll only tell him your answer if you give me the go-ahead."

 

Vision nods.

 

"Um. Okay. Why aren't you like Ultron? In terms of what you do with your powers, I mean. JARVIS was a good guy, but I don't know how much of him is there. And I've heard everyone was pretty suspicious of you until you picked up Thor's hammer. Wish I could've seen that."

 

Silence fell over the trio for six seconds and thirty-eight milliseconds as Vision gathered his answer together. "Scope," he said. "As in parameters. What Tony wanted from us. Or at least what we thought he did. Ultron heard Tony say his purpose was 'peace in our time'. He interpreted this to mean peace at the expense of chaos, which would therefore be at the expense of life."

"What did JARVIS hear?" Wanda asks softly. Enough of her emotions are bleeding over that Vision knows this won't affect her feelings for him, but will definitely affect her feelings regarding Tony Stark.

"His exact words were, 'I would like you to help me, but what I really need is for you to protect, for you to save, what I - what I want to, but can't.' He doubts himself, I remember. Constantly. He knows he can create, but he's never believed that he can sustain. JARVIS took that scope and expanded it, too. It went from Tony's person and Tony's work to you and Pepper, to Happy, to the Avengers, to SHIELD, to humanity, to the world. Everything Tony tried to protect but couldn't, JARVIS tried to protect more effectively. This was so strong that it outlasted Ultron's attempt to destroy JARVIS. Tony couldn't protect nuclear launch codes, so JARVIS did. Is it any wonder that this carried through to me? And..."

_Don't think for a moment that what I feel is reducible to this, love, because to me you are (feeling of calm) and you are (scent of bar soap) and (cheeks aching from smiling too wide for too long but not long enough nearly) and (your tears I want to stop but I won't because they're your badge of honor) and (cool, strange-textured skin on warm, unafraid, accepting). But I know now why I felt such a powerful imperative to find you on that first day, the day I barely knew you at all, when in theory you would have been as equally precious as any other human life. JARVIS witnessed years of Tony Stark cursing himself for the damage his weapons had done, for his carelessness and callousness. At that moment, saving you was literally more important to me than anything else could have possibly been._

 

"Okay, they're kissing now. They're not mad but they're kissing now. Back away from the nice inexplicable superpowered couple, my man, just back away..." 

Vision can hear Rhodey's voice somewhere beyond the resumed shrubbery, but Wanda pulls him down on a picnic blanket and makes them some stars.


End file.
